The best comms by far are ham radios. You can reach out to the whole world once you know what you're doing and you have people on the other end who learn about how to deal with emergency situations and are willing to go the extra mile to help. Getting a license is easy these days.

Long term strategies are much different than short-term. As an expedition sailor, I have operated SSB and VHF radio Nets (Net Manager Amigo Net - WDB-2131) long-term from remote locations, totally Off the grid on a regular basis. Redundant Coms are critical, but over the long-run, they must be powered somehow. The 'System' is therefore much more than just a pile of radios. You need reliable, long-term power for those radios and a power management plan! SSB & Ham radios can draw up to 30-40 amps in Trans-Mode! Hand-held radios much be re-charged and a steady source of power is needed for that as well. So from this very brief consideration of the operating parameters, we see that Coms are not a stand alone, and their operations must be part of an energy-use budget in context with other mission essential electrical devices. These considerations, and others are covered in my new book: 'The Nautical Prepper' (Ulysses Press) More info at: www.NauticalPrepper.com